Soylent CEO could escape penalties for unlawful container home
Robert Rhinehart says he wanted to experiment in low-impact, sustainable living. But his experiment wound up testing the city’s zoning code.
The Los Angeles entrepreneur’s shipping-container-turned home on his Montecito Heights hilltop property quickly became a neighborhood eyesore, and city prosecutors charged him with erecting it while skirting permitting procedures.
On Monday, Rhinehart pleaded no contest as part of an agreement with the court. He’ll only face penalties, such as probation and a $1,000 fine, if he commits additional code violations at his property during the next year. Had the case gone to trial, the chief executive of Rosa Labs, which develops the meal replacement substance Soylent, would have faced up to two years in jail.
Rhinehart didn’t appear in Los Angeles County Superior Court at any point, instead authorizing attorney Richard Kaplan to enter a plea for him.
“This case arose from a forward-thinking urban experiment,” Kaplan said in a statement after the hearing.
Rhinehart is pleased with the settlement and looks forward to the case being fully resolved next year, Kaplan said.
The plea deal had been held up for months as Rhinehart failed to rid his property of graffiti and remove a set of pylons dug into the ground. It’s unclear why Rhinehart didn’t clear the 8,400-square-foot property faster.
The agreement might mark a conclusion to a trying year for Rhinehart and his start-up, which had to recall nutrition bars that sickened customers. An inquiry into food-safety concerns was completed without federal penalties.
The company now is seeking to broaden consumption of its drinks and bars beyond its core demographic of software programmers and other busy workers who prefer concentrating on their jobs over eating a traditional meal.
Twitter: @peard33
